Abbot Michael and Brother Benedict
at burial of Fr. Christopher Davis

“I Would Rather Be Living in Philadelphia.” Supposedly that was what the comedian WC Fields wanted on his tombstone. Father Christopher was proud to be from Philadelphia, but I never heard him say that. He was proud to be from and enjoyed being in many places. He was a man, a priest, a monk, with many talents and gifts which he enjoyed expanding and sharing with anyone and everyone. We all know that each day we each come one day closer to our end. Father Christopher knew that his day was quickly approaching, God was calling him to his true home. Jesus finally extended this invitation to a persevering Monk and Priest and Teacher: “Come, you blessed by My Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” In our faith we can take great comfort in knowing this, not only because the crosses Father Christopher carried have been lifted from his back but also because we know, despite the weakness and failings of his progressing old age, the good work he did in life right to the very end. We are grateful for the 94 years he lived among us. We must be thankful for all that he gave us in that time and for all that he allowed us to give to him. So we are gathered together today to say farewell for now, to entrust to God and to celebrate the life of someone who has slid past us out of this world, into the fuller life of God’s Kingdom in which we hope to share someday, but no doubt we hope not too soon. Our life is a such a mystery to each of us, a gift of God that comes upon us unawares as our consciousness springs to life when we are little children, filled with wonder. And all we really know is that one day this life gift will return to its source, the Giver of Life.

Father Christopher managed to keep a good deal of that childlike wonder. For example, he was enthusiastic about the coronation of the new king of England. And on one of his last visits here, he told me he had something very important to say to me. He asked everyone to leave the room. I did not know what to expect but prepared myself to hear some dire news. But what he told me was that he thought I should take a group of students to visit the great Hagia Sophia Church in Istanbul, Turkey. Living to a ripe old age, as Fr Christopher did, is in itself no assurance or mark of success in this enterprise of life. Nor are our accomplishments, successes or awards. And fortunately for us our sins and failings do not mean we have failed in life. But rather, for any person of any age, real success comes from understanding and embracing truth through trust in God, and living with Him in love, and sharing that love with others in justice. In other words, success is in living faith, hope and charity. God’s word in the book of Wisdom reassures us that the soul of such a one is in the hands of God. By this measure then, today we celebrate, the culmination of a life long in selfless love, a life journey on many roads in many directions, but always advancing in love of God and neighbor, a successful life.

Father Christopher’s patron saint was said to be an unpleasant giant, who pursued goodness by carrying people across a dangerous river. His life was transformed when he carried a child across, who turned out to be Jesus. Fr Chris was neither a giant in size nor unpleasant, but he did help others as a great father and guide cross the turbulent waters of life, a role for which many remember him. We have heard from alumni of the school and those to whom he gave spiritual direction, recounting his acts of kindness, his interest in their well-being and his impact on their lives. Now it takes a saint or mystic to speak of death as kind and gentle, as St Francis of Assisi once did. We are aspiring saints in progress and few, if any, of us are mystics, and so we mourn. But Jesus Christ himself reassures us: Blessed – Happy – are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted. The writer Nikos Kazantzkis put into the mouth of Zorba the Greek words of wisdom: "Life is trouble, only death is not." For those who believe, death is not so much trouble, and Father Christopher truly believed. So we are not discouraged because, like Father Christopher, we have all been baptized into Jesus Christ. And St Paul assures us that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ who conquered death for us. The Eucharist we celebrate today for Father Christopher is a living and perpetual reminder that death is not the end but a new beginning.

By his works, Fr. Christopher sowed seeds of goodness that have sprouted, grown and lived on in his students, in his friends, in the people in this Portsmouth Abbey family and the other lives he touched. Fr. Christopher’s success came to him not by his degrees or books, but by his integrity, hard work, his patience , his humor, his creativity and his many talents and ability put to work in building God’s kingdom. At this point in time, so close to when he left us, our gratitude for his life and his impact on ours is naturally tinged with some sadness. But just as seeds planted in the ground take time to sprout and grow, it takes time for our untinged joy in having shared life with Father Christopher to blossom alongside the gratitude. But it gives us great hope for our own lives that despite any weaknesses or failings, one man can do good and leave a lasting legacy in other lives by being simply a good, persevering monk, by doing what God called him to do; and that is something we all can do.

If our Christian faith tells us anything, it tells us two important things. One is that Father Christopher’s spirit, his soul, is very alive, and no longer subject to time and space; his very spirit lives on with us, can help us and can be helped by us. This is the meaning of the communion of the saints. We pray for him and he can pray for us. And secondly, that after we have passed over the horizon of death as Father Christopher has, we shall see him again and rise together as Jesus himself rose from the dead. St. Francis de Sales said it so succinctly: Friendships begun in this world will be taken up again, never to be broken off. So in the face of this great mystery of death, we too must rely on faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love, and love never fails. So let us console one another with this knowledge. Until that day when we meet him again, we should do what Jesus asked us do to remember Him: we celebrate this Mass, this banquet and sacrifice, in memory of Him. Whenever you gather as his friends and his family, remember Father Christopher. Whenever we gather as Portsmouth Abbey, we will remember Father Christopher. He will still be with us and you, watching, caring and loving in his own way. We must remember and celebrate his life, and as with the Lord Jesus, remembering what he has accomplished with his love, and keep building upon it.

I came across these very appropriate words, preached in St Paul’s Cathedral, London by Rev. Henry Scott-Holland in 1910, words that I can well imagine Father Christopher himself speaking to us today. “Death is nothing at all. It does not count. I have only slipped away to the next room. I am I and you are you. Whatever we were to each other, that, we still are. Call me by my old familiar name. Speak to me in the easy way which you always used. Put no difference into your tone. Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow. Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes we enjoyed together. Play, smile, think of me. Pray for me. Let my name be ever the household word that it always was. Let it be spoken without effect. Without the trace of a shadow on it. Life means all that it ever meant. It is the same that it ever was. There is absolute unbroken continuity. Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight? I am but waiting for you. For an interval. Somewhere. Very near. Just around the corner. All is well. Nothing is past; nothing is lost. One brief moment and all will be as it was before only better, infinitely happier and forever we will all be one together with Christ.”

And so today we celebrate the culmination of a full life. And at this Eucharistic Banquet, we raise a spiritual toast to life and to love, to Father Christopher Davis! May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed rest in peace and joy. Amen.

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